Aston Villa vs Preston North End Post-Match Thread

[Des Little]

Fair play to the security bloke on the gate. Failing to spot a cabbage up someone's jumper is some going.

Who said it was up their jumper?  The offender may just be out of Winson Green, where three piece settees can be concealed up certain orifices these days.  Apparently.

[Clampy]

Fair play to the security bloke on the gate. Failing to spot a cabbage up someone's jumper is some going.

Who said it was up their jumper?  The offender may just be out of Winson Green, where three piece settees can be concealed up certain orifices these days.  Apparently.

True. It may have been under his hat.

[footyskillz]

I haven’t read the thread. Has there been an explanation as to why Wheelan got the penalty takers job? I’d have had Bunn in front of him for the job.

Bruce said whelan as most senior pro stepped up to take it. And that the 2 designated penalty takers Kodjia and Abraham were off the pitch.

Of course this illustrates the lack of organization on having known penalty takers on the pitch .
A more organized manager and squad would be super prepared in case of eventuality.

The 3 players sub all can take a pen.
Okay doesn't mean leave players on in case we get a penalty however it does mean who ever on pitch needs to be known who would be the pen , corner, free kick taker .

Bolaise was up for taking it but it seems that the most experience player of Whelan wanted to take it .

[Ads]

They were all over us before the penalty. A goal was likely coming.

What was said at half time is bemuisng. Why we're we defending our 18 yard box against that dross?

Taking off your target man. Then taking off the other striker (who played well first half) when, unsurprisngly, he couldn't hold the ball up.

Leaving Grealish wide and on the pitch. Playing players out of position. The absolutely aimless approach. The 2nd goal being so obvious with the free headers that were being missed.

Absolutely, desperate. Mind boggling and ultimately the end of Bruce. Silver lining.

[JD]

Just disgraceful.

Surely the owners/CEO can see the way the fans have turned and need to take action now. There is no excuse now.

The team with all the talent we have at it's disposal is a complete shambles. With the right manager we should be pissing this league with the talent at our disposal.

Lest said about the shambles of the game the better. 

[The Edge]

Bruce said on Talkshite that 'he deserves more respect from the fans for getting Villa to the play off final last season'.  He needed to add 'where I also failed to get a tune out of the team and turned in a completely negative performance and deserved to lose'.  Some sensible fans on Talkshite for once. Other than some Leedz wanker on right now.

Did he really? Well respect has to be earned. While he did have our respect for a good while he has completely lost that now and it's entirely his own fault. Nearly every presser this year has been a total pisstake out of us fans. He's twisted facts, he's spun the truth and he's flat out lied on occasions. Does he think those press conferences are just a cosy chat between himself and his chums in the media? Does he not realise that the fans get to hear them too? "I deserve respect from the fans" No you don't. Just fuck off Steve. The only way he will gain any respect from the fans now is if he resigns and wishes us success in the future. But he won't do that will he? Not when he can steal even more money from AVFC. He's just a fraud caught in a footballing timewarp.

[chrisw1]

I have no real problem with Wheelan taking the penalty.  Our designated takers were off the field and as the senior pro he took the responsibility.  Obviously I have a problem with how he took it, but even the best players miss sometimes.

I don't have a problem with Bruce not watching the penalty.  Some managers do, others don't.  It makes no difference.

I don't have a huge problem with Bruce bringing Abraham off first.  He was carrying an injury, had to have a fitness test before the game and was limping heavily a few minutes before he was subbed.  We needed to go down to one striker so I could understand the choice.

I thought the Bolasie sub was brave and decent thinking.  Kodjia wasn't impacting on the game and Bolasie gave them something else to think about.

With all of that said, I thought we were pretty pedestrian even in the first half against the poorest team I can recall seeing.  We were awful at the start of the second half and a complete joke once we went down to 10 men.   Why do we find it so hard to play against 10 men, yet other teams make it look so easy against us?

The fact we finished the game with 4 right backs and our third choice keeper just shows how poor our planning has been over the summer.  I can't recall seeing such an unbalanced and poorly drilled team.

We are an absolute laughing stock and I can see no reason why he shouldn't be sacked today.

[The Edge]

I have no real problem with Wheelan taking the penalty.  Our designated takers were off the field and as the senior pro he took the responsibility.  Obviously I have a problem with how he took it, but even the best players miss sometimes.

I don't have a problem with Bruce not watching the penalty.  Some managers do, others don't.  It makes no difference.

I don't have a huge problem with Bruce bringing Abraham off first.  He was carrying an injury, had to have a fitness test before the game and was limping heavily a few minutes before he was subbed.  We needed to go down to one striker so I could understand the choice.

I thought the Bolasie sub was brave and decent thinking.  Kodjia wasn't impacting on the game and Bolasie gave them something else to think about.

With all of that said, I thought we were pretty pedestrian even in the first half against the poorest team I can recall seeing.  We were awful at the start of the second half and a complete joke once we went down to 10 men.   Why do we find it so hard to play against 10 men, yet other teams make it look so easy against us?

The fact we finished the game with 4 right backs and our third choice keeper just shows how poor our planning has been over the summer.  I can't recall seeing such an unbalanced and poorly drilled team.

We are an absolute laughing stock and I can see no reason why he shouldn't be sacked today.

FFP?

[andyh]

This FFP business and paying him off.
If he is on a rolling 12 month contract and ssck him, doesn’t that mean we would pay him 12 months salary as compensation?
If things were going ok and he was still our manger for the next 12 months, wouldn’t we be paying him the same as a salary.

How are we breaching FFP by giving him in a lump sum, what we would be giving him anyway?

That said, why the fuck he deserves a payout for failing is another one of those football related mysteries.

[aj2k77]

Take the bullet. I'm sorry but how keeping Bruce and finishing absolutely nowhere and suffering long term damage morale wise as a fan base and the doubt it would cause towards the ownerships direction is just not worth it. I can't see how we are going to pass FFP the end of the season anyway, we are nowhere near the profit we need to make to balance the last 2 years losses.

If we go the entire season with Bruce in charge around 14th place people will immediately lose faith in the direction of the club and the distance between the clubs fans and management will be a chasm. Nothing good can come of that.

Pay him off, take the hit and move on towards something more positive. Long term this is damaging us. Fans at the end of their tether, expecting the worst from minute 1, fans smuggling in vegetables to throw at a manager, staff arguing with fans. It's all negative and it can only get worse. No one has faith in Steve Bruce, his staff and his methods anymore, he's reached his ceiling here.

[dicedlam]

Sadly this side isn't going up even with a half competent manager. he's fucked up the defence, unbalanced the midfield and stuffed us full of loans. time to rebuild.

I agree 100%, the only saving grace is that there isn't a decent side in the division this year so any kind of decent run would take us into contention.

I don't agree with the narrative that we have a group of players that should smash this division. We have a hopelessly unbalanced squad with no keeper, defence or functioning midfield. We had a much better squad last season.

Not sure about the no decent side in this division argument.

Almost every side we face is super fit, well organized and aware of their own and our strengths and weaknesses.

For a man who obviously doesn't see fitness a major part of his own well being, I'm pretty sure it would not be high on the list of priorities for his players too. What the bloody hell goes on at BH daily is anyone's guess?

[aj2k77]

Where's the leaders? There isn't a single fucking leader amongst any of the players either, they're not getting away scott free from this.

[JUAN PABLO]

Cant we pay the cabbage off with free kebab vouchers .

[jcsutv]

Sums up Bruce that Whelan takes the penalty as he is the most experienced player. Surely the best penalty taker should get the nod.

[chrisw1]

Sums up Bruce that Whelan takes the penalty as he is the most experienced player. Surely the best penalty taker should get the nod.

It was Whelan who wanted it, not Bruce's choice.